Reason: This isn't going to be everyone's cuppa, but this post was a lifesaver for CC. Over the last year and a half our rate has become very much a shadow of what it once was, and we've done our best to crawl out of that. As such, as need a recap, and Inem took it upon himself to recap the entirety of the current chapter for everyone so everyone is up to speed on the current investigation, which will take at least half the year if not longer, provided our current post rate continues.
Inem does a fantastic job of summing things up going back to 2017, and everyone loves him. You should love him too. LOVE HIM, DAMN YOU. Post:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Inem
Mara hesitates slightly, just long enough to make Hrani's heart uncharacteristically skip a beat, but then she takes his arm and walks close to him. The magus is happy to let her lean on him for support, after what he put her 'legs' through earlier in the chase, and to let her set whatever pace she is comfortable with. A couple walking slowly won't attract any attention, for everyone understands their minds are likely a million miles away from the act of putting one step in front of the other. And it is good, for Hrani does not fail to notice the unusual amount of activity in the streets considering the time of day. It is almost as if the city is positively buzzing with energy as it looks forward to the Beast's execution.
It takes some time to get back to the apartment, but the elf doesn't mind. While he isn't consciously registering just how tightly Mara is hugging his arm, he definitely feels her proximity, and it isn't unpleasant. Every so often, he feels like he catches a brief whiff of her scent, and though he can't place it, he wonders whether that is what an ocean breeze smells like? It is a pleasant aroma, in any case, even if the logical part of his mind reminds him he has never even seen an ocean, let alone smelled the wind coming off of it, and he is just inventing things based off of who Mara is. The less rational part, small as it may be in Hrani's case, does not care, however, and just enjoys the lengthy walk. So much so that he fails to notice the songstress is distracted with things, though her natural social skills and talent for talking, combined with Hrani's utter ineptitude at reading people and talking to them certainly play a large role as well. Thus, anyone listening in on the pair somehow, would find the magus holding a mostly unperturbed monologue, with Mara interjecting three words every so often, and neither of them being particularly bothered by the fact.
Upon there return, the find Runa has actually beaten them back here. A sign of life from the other part of the group then, at least. Samovar quickly departs to prepare more food, and Hrani is more than happy to let him. He feels famished after the day out and about, investigating. Dropping down into a chair, he takes his cue from Mara, and begins to fill Runa and Jamir in. Even if Runa is aware of the first part of things, having been present in Morast, the magus opts to start at the very beginning, both to fill Jamir in, and i.e. I decided it was time for me to reread everything since we investigated in Morast in order to sort my own thoughts, and figured I might as well recap here for everyone else's benefitbecause he hopes it will help him organize his own thougts:
"We arrived in Morast, and after a few conversations in town, headed for the boneyard slightly outside. After all, the people here claimed the Beast had come for their dead first, digging them up, before first Portea vanished and then the Beast attacked the town, claiming ten souls in five nights prior to being driven off and supposedly being eaten by the Caiman. We found a multitude of clues at the boneyard, none of which support the idea that Sullivany would have been involved. There was evidence of a camp, with a vial we identified as having contained a potion that allows seeing in darkness. We should confirm whether or not Sully actually would need something like that, or whether his nature already allows him vision where others would need a source of light." Hrani's brow furrows as he mentions the theory tossed around by Fido, who the elf had successfully avoided thinking about for all this time. "There was also a small coracle, a dried wicker boat, with clear evidence of someone having bled inside of it, though the blood seemed strange. The boat contained a moldy leather travel bag with what used to be some sort of artisan's outfit inside of it. In addition, highly disturbingly, there was also the remains of a face inside the boat, one later identified by one of the villagers of having belonged to Portea, the woman who had vanished prior to the supposed Beast attacks. That man also told us that prior to vanishing, Portea suddenly had green eyes and acted differently than before. Between that and the description given to us of the culprit as someone with mismatched looking skin, too tight for its body, leads us to believe that the main culprit here was a Fey creature called a Skin Stealer." Hrani looks at Jamir, waiting to see if the Halfling has heard of them before. And that is when his brain finally catches up to a connection he should really have made earlier. Obvious in retrospect, but with everything they had learned throughout the day, this little tidbit had gotten buried until he began reviewing all the information for the others.
It is then that Samovar returns with tea and dinner, which Hrani thanks him for, before continuing his story between bites of his meal. "Attached to the boat with a rope, and hanging underwater, was a bag clearly large enough to fit a whole body inside. It contained a rope and a stained gag, as well as a rusted shovel and rusted lantern, and finally a trio of heavy knives. Those could obviously have a lot of purposes, but everything prior to that are clearly exactly the instruments necessary for abducting villagers and for digging up graves."
The elf pauses, taking a sip of tea, deciding where to continue. "In a different place of this boneyard island, in some overgrown grass, Pike found a bag containing surgical implements such as scalpels, masterfully crafted from silver and with amethyst handles bearing symbols of a raven. They are clearly designed for small hands, at the very least much smaller than the creature the guards have imprisoned in their basement cell." Hrani recalls their earlier visit with the Beast, when Carlo introduced the Crooked Kin to it, where he had been able to confirm this in person, in between being fascinated by what sort of construct it was. "They are also the most likely culprits used to remove Portea's face, and possibly others, from their original owners."
"We dug up the six most recent graves, which were clearly disturbed, and confirmed they had been emptied of the bodies they once contained. We're not sure where they went, but I have two theories as to why they would have been taken. Option number one is that our Skin Stealer simply wanted more faces for its repertoire. Option number two, and given that the bodies are missing in their entirety, this seems like the more probable choice, is that they were taken to experiment on. Apparently the people of Morast age very slowly, claiming it has something to do with very resilient skin. I could see how that would seem intriguing to a Skin Stealer, though others might have been involved as well. Philosophers and scientists have been wanting to study the people from this backwater town for a while, according to our local source, so I wouldn't rule out the Skin Stealer working for some other party, either."
Hrani takes another bite of his food, savoring the taste. Absolutely over the top, by his elven standards, like just about any meal Samovar has prepared so far. But today...yes, after today, for the first time, Hrani can appreciate it fully, rather than just considering it unnecessarily decadent. At least he hopes it has to do with the hard day he has had, and not the fact that he is assimilating to the human lifestyle. For an instance, he flashes back to the disgust he had felt in Radniche's shop several hours earlier, realizing how his fellow elf had succumbed to the barbaric lifestyle and distractions after spending around a decade in Lepidstadt. He doesn't wish to dwell on it, so instead the magus concludes the first portion of his story: "The final thing we found on the island was a manticore nest. We almost got into a battle when its owner returned, but Mara was, incredibly, able to talk it down and buy us an hour to look around." The elf turns to give the songstress he had been walking intimately close to half an hour ago a warm smile of appreciation. "Inside the nest, we found a dead dwarf, among his possessions an Oil of Keen Edge, a bag of an alchemical bodybalm, which when drunk by a healer improves their healing capabilities, a strange staff with two snakes wrapped around it and a Psychochomp Raven at the top. Unclear whether there is any connection to the ravens on the surgical implements, but it would be a pretty big coincidence if not. There was also a mundane scroll with a dwarven letter on it, though now that I think about it, I don't think Pike ever told us what it said...At least I assume Pike kept it?and I don't recall it being with the things we delivered to the courthouse. Finally, there was a ruby-pommeled shortsword and a white ashen wand with ghostly symbols on it in the nest, probably once belonging to the dwarf. Though perhaps Jamir identified it, since I assume we dropped it off at the courthouse?I don't know what it does, but it was clearly some minor illusory magic."
"So yes, lots of clues, not all of them clear. In particular, I'm not sure where, if at all, the dwarf in the manticore's nest fits into things, though the staff seems like if would be a very specific coincidence otherwise. Beyond that, the surgical implements seemed the most promising lead, so after we got back to the city, that is what Mara and I have been following up on." Hrani looks more towards Runa now, having finally arrived at the part of the story that is probably of interest to her, because it is the first part she wasn't present for herself.
"Interestingly enough, we had some trouble getting back into the city, after the guards were apparently bribed to keep us out or give us trouble. We barely saw a red-haired lady leave before we arrived, though we knew not who she was until we met her again late this evening. But we will get to that. After Mara brilliantly negotiated our entry into the city, and we delivered all of our evidence at the courthouse, we learned from Klovar Gundagrin, Kaple's roommate, cook and possibly more, that the surgical tools had been made by Zbraslov Hora, and that they are always made specifically to order. So we followed up with her and learned that this particular set had been made for one Vladka Kostel for one of the city's auction houses. By chance, Carlo, who had rejoined us at the courthouse, and Andrzej, had run into said lady earlier in the day and our Varisian friend knew exactly where to find her. Matters were complicated a little bit due to, as far as I understand it, our other Varisian friend Andrzej having beaten us there and upset Vladka with his advances. Still, we were able to convince her and her employer, a certain Klud, that it was invaluable in our work in this trial to learn who had purchased the tools. The well kept information in their ledger lead us to a...slightly eccentric elf named Radniche."
Taking another swallow of tea, Hrani looks around to see if everyone is still with him, or if he has lost someone, before moving on: "We went and visited Radniche, despite the lateness of the hour by the time we found him, and he told us that tools were purchased 'under the table' by one Mister Vorkstag, of Vorkstag and Grine, who apparently own and operate a Chymic work in the city, producing alchemical compounds. He also informed us that Vorkstag had returned not too long ago to acquire a new set, which would indicate that he did indeed lose the old ones that we found in the boneyard...or someone stole them from him and then lost them there."
Some more bites of food punctuate Hrani's story. "So, Mara and I decided to go check out the Chymic Works. Carlo took his leave from us, and it didn't sound like he intends to return. I got the feeling he might have found his new home with the Crooked Kin. I also got the feeling that in doing so, he drove Andrzej away from him, and by association us. So I'm not sure whether we're going to see either Varisian again, at this point. But I'm getting sidetracked, and I'm getting close to the end of the tale, so let me focus for this last part. Mara and I reached the Chymic Works, just in time to see a woman departing, which was quite unusual given the late hour. Mara was the one who recognized her as the woman who had bribed the guards earlier, to prevent our return to the city. So we gave chase." Hrani skips over the details of the pursuit for Mara's sake, and restricts himself only to saying: "I was able to use the magic of a scroll to hasten myself, and in that way cut off the lady, who turned out to be Miss Margot Vorkstag, sister of Master Vorkstag, who owns the Chymic Works. A lot of things about her seemed unnatural."
Having thrown that out there, Hrani gets up to retrieve some parchment and a quill or a pen. It takes him a little bit, but eventually he finds what he is looking for and returns to the table, beginning to write something, looking up every so often. His story never stops though, neither during his search for the writing utensils, nor during his usage thereof. "In fact, she almost seemed...inhuman. There was something weird about her face when I saw it from the distance, and she seemed to have some sort of defense mechanism that made her blur unnaturally. Judging by her reaction, I got the impression that she wasn't connected to the Whispering Way, but rather another faction that is against us. I'm not sure whether she just represents the general public, or whether we have more specific enemies in the form of whatever group we belong to. She did claim our investigation was tarnishing the good Professor Lorimor's reputation, and this seemed to disturb her greatly. Margot seemed convinced that the Beast needs to be burned at the pyre, though not out of a conviction of its guilt. No, she does in fact not seem to care at all about its fault, though I couldn't see through her motives. She did know we were working for one of the judges, however, courtesy of said judge's husband apparently having a big mouth. I couldn't get a lot more than that out of the woman, I'm sure if I had not had to leave Mara behind to catch Miss Vorkstag with my magical speed, she would have been more successful in extracting something useful."
Hrani looks up again, having apparently finished writing whatever it is he was writing. "One big thing I did manage was to convince her to let me look at the list of alchemical ingredients she was apparently retrieving in the middle of the night. To me it looked like it was some sort of transfiguration concoction, meant to alter the drinker physically, and not just illusory. But I'm not an expert on the matter, so I figured you might be able to do better." Hrani focuses his glance on Jamir, then holds out the parchment he has been scribbling away on. "This is a list of everything that she was apparently retrieving, to the best of my memory, though I'm pretty confident I got most, if not all of it."
Hopefully the mage will be able to do learn more from this than he could. In any case, it is now time to go over the final piece of information. The one that had clicked earlier in his mind. The one he hadn't even revealed to Mara yet. "There's one more thing, and I didn't realize it until I started talking earlier, and my mind finally caught up with processing everything it had seen, and while I've been talking, I have replayed the conversation I had with Miss Vorkstag in the back of my mind to confirm my suspicion: I think the woman was a Skin Stealer Fey. In addition to her weird face and the blurring defense mechanism while she fled, her skin also seemed to have an unnatural color. I wrote if off as being the light in the alley, initially, but I no longer think that is the case. Not when I take it together that the hunt for the surgical tools that we strongly assume were used to cut off Portea's face led us to her, and consider some of the things she said to me. The seemed innocuous in the moment, but in retrospect, they are fairly obvious. If I hadn't had such a long day, perhaps I would have put two and two together sooner. SHOULD have probably put two and two together sooner." Hrani pauses, slightly annoyed at himself. At least his memory had not failed him. So he repeats some of the lines Margot, if that was even her name, had said to him that convinced him he was right. There was the sort of mundane, such as 'I come from a far away land' and, paired with that unnatural grin, which had seemed out of place, almost as if to big for that face. But there were also the more extreme, clear giveaways. 'Fear is in your nature, isn't it?' All you mere Mortals.' for starters, but also the more specific: 'And yet, who am I? A question we ask ourselves every day of our lives', followed up by 'Life worth living deserves a hundred faces.'
As he repeats Margot's lines to the others, he looks between them, to see if any of them doubt his conclusion that the woman is one of the Fey. A Skin Stealer. "Possibly the prime suspect for what happened in Morast. Though I find it impossible to say, at this juncture, whether her brother and Grine are involved or not. They both might be Skin Stealers as well, for all I know, and either one of them could have been in Morast. Or the Skin Stealer replaced an innocent Master Vorkstag's sister without his knowledge. Radniche mentioned Margot had appeared on the scene of the Chymic Works a few months ago, even though she has apparently been in town as long as her brother. Why the sudden interest? Did her brother need help? Or was that when she was suddenly replaced and had a new agenda to follow? That would also match our timeline of events of what happened in Morast more closely than someone who has been here for years. But still, I'm not ruling out either possibility at this point..."
Hrani pauses to take another sip of tea, though it has cooled by this point. "The question is, what do we do with this information? And is there any way we can confirm it?" Hrani looks to Jamir, hoping for some insights. "I vaguely recall some Fey being sensitive to certain kinds of metals. Do you by chance know whether that applies to all Fey, and what sorts of metals are necessary?" Not that he would just stab Margot, but having one of their group go up to her and press some sort of metal to her skin to judge the reaction might offer some insights. "Unless I'm confusing thingsMorast is on the docket to be discussed at the trial tomorrow. That gives us very little time to work out a plan at this point. Do we try to talk to Master Vorkstag before the trial and confront him? Or do we go into the trial with the evidence we have and not point any fingers yet?" Hrani looks at Mara, who is the one who will be doing most, if not all of the talking tomorrow. He might be good at working out the details and seeing the connections, but if his encounter with Miss Vorkstag had proved anything, it was that he should not be allowed to address the jury or the audience. Runa on the other hand might be helpful, so Hrani was glad he had gotten the chance to fill her in. "And do we go do some research on Skin Stealers, or do we not have the time to devote to that, currently?"
Questions upon questions. But at least Hrani feels like he has made great strides and figured out some connections he had missed earlier. There was no denying they had learned a lot today. The question was whether it would suffice to seed serious doubt in the judges' mind. And through all of this, they hadn't even let Runa get a word in as to the rest of the group's efforts. Hrani turns to her then, prepared to listen, now that he has gotten his own thoughts sorted out. "Perhaps you should tell us what you have learned since we parted ways, Runa. Perhaps that will help shed some light on our best course from here on out?"
Nominee: Ion2Atom Game: Dawn of Darkness GM: Kapera Link:Here
Reason: This is a game taking place in a small isolated village where nothing strange or unexpected ever happens, until something strange and unexpected happened. The second-born child of each founding family always wears a necklace until a new second-born comes into the family, when it is passed on. Right now, in the game, all the second-borns found themselves drawn to the riverbank in the dead of night at the same time, where the village helper, Thomas, was waiting for them with a boat and packs for each of them, to take them across the river to the ancient ruins that had never seemed strange, until today.
Ion is playing an intelligence-based character, and his portrayal of Jeanie here is fantastic. I actually felt like I was getting insight into a brilliant, well-structured mind, and he does a great job of assembling all the evidence available so far.
Post:
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Originally Posted by Ion2Atom
Jeanie jumped a little when she heard her name uttered behind her. Whipping her head around to see who was behind her, her eyes alighted on Garidan. "Garidan?" It was a testament to the amount of trust she had in the man that Jeanie’s mind did not immediately jump to the nefarious. That being said, she was still confused at his appearance by the river bank in the middle of the night. It had every appearance that Garidan had followed her. Glancing back to Thomas, Jeanie noted that he had made his way closer to Lillian and was pointing out Jeanie and Garidan. Oddly though, it seemed as if the young man was unperturbed by the interruption. Either Thomas was the best card player in the world, or something else was going on. The young man was just too honest to ever truly master a good Sha-La-Go face, so that meant there was a mystery to be solved. Jeanie could feel goosebumps forming on her skin at the thought. This was exactly how things Didn’t work in Rivair Hibbair. Clamping down on her excitement, Jeanie observed that Thomas seemed to be looking around for someone else. Noting that factoid, Jeanie took the opportunity to start silently cataloguing the information she had available to her, ticking it off one by one on mental fingers.
1. Thomas and Lillian were at the river in the middle of the night.
2. Thomas seems unperturbed at her interruption, much less Garidan’s. In fact, he seems expectant.
3. Lillian, Thomas, and Garidan are all humans, but she was an elf. Is race is a concern?
4. There is a wooden boat. Flat bottomed, and designed for the river. Enough to seat five to ten people. Only good for short trips.
Examining the boat closer in the moonlight, Jeanie adds,
5. The boat has several bags. Likely supplies of some sort since it is not currently being unloaded.
6. This is not the normal docking location for boats in Rivair Hibbair, so this is likely a temporary mooring. Is it specifically for us?
At that point, Lyall made his arrival known. This time Jeanie was less surprised, but the Halfling’s presence was immediately catalogued under point #3. Nodding her head to recognize Layall’s presence, she then shook her head at the playful Halfling’s comment about an after party. Jeanie was about to respond when a fifth figure emerged from the shadows with a growl to refute the same thought. "Seamus." Clearly they had progressed far past “Moonlight date” as her cousin had so adroitly pointed out. When Thomas asked confusedly about their restlessness, Jeanie ticked off another point on her list, but tersely confirmed the feeling that Layall had referred to, "Yes, restless." Jeanie glanced at the Halfling, then locked eyes with Garidan, thinking back to their brief conversation on the way back from the party. The two recognized the stoned faced, hard eyed seriousness that Jeanie usually had when she was formulating a strategy.
7. At least three of them felt an unexplained restlessness.
8. Seamus seemed a bit restless as well, but then again, he always seemed a bit restless
9. Some do not, Thomas at least does not seem to know what this inexplicable feeling is
When Thomas spoke of visiting the ruins, Jeanie was a bit startled, but she didn’t let it show.
10. Thomas presumably has more information than the rest involved. Where did it come from? It was unlikely that something like this would come directly from Thomas himself.
11. They were going to a place that had been tickling her mind all day. That couldn’t be a coincidence.
12. Thomas confirmed that the boat is packed with supplies, and that he did it.
13. Which means that… Thomas somehow *knew* we would be here.
14. He seems assured that we will follow, as if it was assured.
The last point rankled the young woman more than it should, but at the same time, something soothed the feeling as well. It promised the satisfaction one got when that itch finally gets scratched. It nagged at her mind, pulling her towards the flat bottomed boat. The sensation made Jeanie resist even more. Standing her ground, the woman looked at those who had gathered here with her. In doing so, she caught Layall checking out her chest. Really? At a time like this? There was something afoot and he was trying to catch a peek… The thought reminded her of the glowing pendant around her neck. Now that she thought about… Lillian’s pendant seemed to also be glittering in the moonlight, and it wasn’t just the fact that the deaf girl was playing with it. Reaching up, Jeanie moved to lift the pendant over her head so she could get a better look at it straight on… but she couldn’t. The necklace shifted and resettled as she moved, but when it came to actually lifting it over her head it wouldn’t move. Or she couldn’t move. It was hard to tell.
More data points began to resolve as Jeanie carefully reviewed this turn of events, with a rising sense of panic.
15. I can’t remove the pendant
16. At least Lillian and I’s pendants are glowing
17. … Everyone but Thomas is a Second
Thinking back on the night she added:
18. I didn’t leave like I had intended even when I thought this was a moonlight tryst
All of the information so far pointed to something pushing her in one direction, even when she didn’t want to go that way. Well she Did want to go that direction, but she would be damned if she would be forced to it. "Seamus is right, this is not normal." Shaking her head at her angry cousin as he stalked off, Jeanie remarked softly, "Something about this is wrong, I’m out." Jeanie waved to the others and turned to head off.
Her intent was to leave and circle back. She couldn’t deny that she was curious, but she wouldn’t be forced forward. This all felt like when Ol’ Hank set up a triple bind maneuver in Sha-La-Go. It was times like these that it was sometimes helpful to have a game piece or two hidden to break up the formation. Jeanie could be that game piece. Two steps away from the river brought on a headache like a white hot nail through her forehead. The pain was apparent from her gait, but Jeanie pushed through for three more steps; at which point her stomach began to convulse. Leaning down, Jeanie was noisily sick. The others could hear her weakly cursing before turning back to the river.
Tottering forward, Jeanie took a quick sip of the pumpkin ale bottle she still had in hand to clear her mouth. Most of it had sloshed onto the ground when nausea had gripped her, but there was just enough to swish and spit. Clutching the empty bottle Jeanie anxiously added a few more points to her ever growing list. Given her intake during the party it may have seemed like she was just recovering from the excess alcohol, but Jeanie knew better. She had woken up remarkably sober this evening.
19. Whatever it is pushing us forward has the means to enforce the direction.
Well if she couldn’t circumnavigate the issue, she’d have to play along until she saw an opportunity. Even so, the thought came with a boiling sense of anxiety. As fiercely independent as she was, something was inexorably pushing her to the ruins. Shuddering, Jeanie took a seat on the flat bottom boat muttering. "Well ain’t this a turd in the chocolate chip cookie dough." Leaning over to Garidan, Jeanie Whispered, "I think we're just going to have to ride this one out Gare." The reference was to when Garidan had explained how sometimes you had to just let a wild horse run as much as it wanted, wherever it wanted, before really taking a hand to training it. Straightening up in the rough wooden bench on the boat, Jeanie finally turned to Thomas. She was safely ensconced on the boat, so perhaps now she could get some answers. Using the tone of mother's everywhere that indicated she wasn't really asking, Jeanie requested, "I think its about time you told us what is going on young man. Start to finish." Any information she got from the earnest young Thomas would be more than she had; which was good because:
20. Something interesting had finally happened in Rivair Hibbair, and Jeanie was smack dab in the center of it.
Nominee: JackinIrons Game: Monsterhearts - Stuck outside the Magic Kingdom GM MC: Wynamoinen Link
Reason - This game is Powered by the Apocalypse, which most of us are using for the first time. I'm relying on my players to drive the story. They're making and picking plotlines, deciding which NPCs are interesting to interact with, and often playing those NPCs themselves. They also are setting up the scenes so that they can have the interactions they want. (Cut away to an image of the MC sitting on a beach sipping a daiquiri out of a coconut). With that much autonomy, the threads can be a mess.
Jack here is pulling the group back together, tidying up our little mess. His character, Ella, is a Hollow - she didn't exist until recently, and is desperately looking for an identity, often clawing it from others. Jack is characterizing her great, while setting the new scene, while introducing a new NPC into the game, while creating space for the other players to join up with Ella (who had previously run off to make kissyface in a private suite). He's telling his story and introducing new aspects into the scene. We get insights into all sorts of aspects of that hellscape we call the American High School. What more can you want in a single post?
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GM of Uncaged: Our Fair Maidens, a folklore-inspired D&D 5e one-shot adventure module.
Last edited by Wynamoinen; 02-20-2019 at 03:56 PM.
Nominee: Andor Game: Holiday with the Smiths GM: girlplay Link
Reason: The story is about a dysfunctional family that is trying to come back together for their dying matriarch. There are four siblings (Randy, Bea, Arabella, James), some significant others, a small army of NPCs, and ... Billy (played by Andor). Billy comes from the 'black sheep' side of the family. In this particular scene, Billy and the oldest sibling Bea (Wynamoinen) are getting reacquainted after Randy (Roekahs), whom Billy feels closest to in the family, broke some bad news to Billy. Andor does such a great job capturing so many aspects of this character, from his upbringing to feeling like an outsider to a couple splashes of humor.
PS. Wynamoinen's lead in to this is well worth a read as well...
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Originally Posted by Andor
__________________ Status: Let's just call this "on the fence" ... mostly keeping up :ridin
Nominee: Code H Game: Lucid Dreamers GM: AwesomeEli Link
Reason: Hello all, long time poster, first time nominator. But this post by Code H pretty much demanded something more than rpxp. It is a characterization post, and the brilliance of it is that it needs no background or explanation. It speaks entirely for itself. It is humorous and a bit sad and gets across this character so completely and almost cinematically that I feel like I have been playing alongside him for months or even years (though I haven't). That's what I think anyway. See what you think.
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Originally Posted by Code H
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I should have been a pair of ragged claws
Scuttling across the floors of silent seas.
Last edited by UngainlyFool; 02-26-2019 at 12:34 PM.
Player: Kapera Game: Guardians of the North GM: LeoByron Link to Post
Reason for Nomination: This game has always been filled with great writing, but this post stood out to me. The way Kapera portrays the character with such a sense of innocence and wonder is striking next to the darkness it's paired with. Her curiosity is child-like and the her speech patterns make sense but evoke the partial language barrier so well. It's a very enjoyable read for me.
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Originally Posted by Kapera
Perhaps it was the calm with which Winter accepted the sudden attention from the slight creature, or how Lena nuzzled, nudged the concern and attention that only an animal might truly understand, but whatever it may be, the Dryad began to settled, the wild agony faded and gave way to an incorrigible shine still accented with the garnet tear stains upon verdant flesh.That Winter had told the girl, nay she was a woman even if only a girl to her kind, that Winter sought time to meditate was likely the only reason that Winter was the only one of those gathered who did not find the Dryad underfoot at some time or another. Kurrhaaagn was well used to the nature of Dryads and more so the youngest among them and thus seemed utterly unaware when she clambered up one side then down the other after using his shoulder to look skyward.
Oota was next as she followed him in circles around the small fire until it seemed she understood he was not moving in circles for a good reason, but to give her space, not that she particularly understood that part, but that the circular walk seemed pointless and he stopped any time she stopped leaning almost over his arms. Curious chirps, a coo here and there and then she was off once more, this time it was their bedthings and personal items that she began to poke around in, lifted a flap here, opened a bottle there and looked utterly perplexed when Lena gently picked her up by the scruff of her cloak and deposited her back near the fire and under Oota's watchful and Kurr's amused eyes.
It was thus with relief, possibly for the others more than Nolia when the meal was served. Her nose wrinkled slightly at the scent as nostrils flared and eyes squinted in a most comical of expressions. A small dip of her finger followed by a lap of her tongue. It was not that it was horrible, it just was not something she had partook of before, though those wide, olive eyes watched each carefully after her initial investigation, after which Nolia did her best to mime the exact motions Winter made in consuming the food, even if now and again there were a myriad of expressions based out of some experience the Dryad seemed to derive from the act of eating Oota's cooked meal.
It was with suitable timing that at the completion of the meal there was no moment allowed for the Dryad to wander back to her perusal of her new compatriots, as Winter made clear that indeed they intended to aid Nolia and with it, Oota followed up with the question of details. Of this Nolia knew, understood and respected. While she was perhaps the most wild and carefree of her sisters, she also fully understood the need to plan, to know the darkness that would be faced before such face was made.
This also provided the girl with something to focus upon outside of her now blossomed curiousity, renewed all the more that she had settled to eat and sat in a measure of relative safety in comparison to the last months, even though the image still echoed in her mind, the call, the summon and her terror, the knowledge it was not her Sister who wished to bring her there, no Adèlédané would wish her gone and away, it was the darkness that lurked and waited, that hungered for all those who kept the Source Tree, kept Gaia's Grove.
"Two, no three kinds of much evil things. The last but that is first you see now, is the rot which eats Mother- SourceTree, and when the land spawns life, life is not what is good life. It eats, decays, kills all good things and gives up plants and creatures of dark and terrible. Plants that were friends are dead, now things like plants are no friends but hunger to kill and eat all things.
Next things, are crawling, flying things, demons of not this place but comes through the rend of Mother, things that have scurry and crawl and cover sky, that gnash and claw and consume. Beasts made of many beasts, of leather and sinew, winged and hungers for death. So many of these, like ants in hills but hill is all." Her voice caught a moment as she waved her hands about her, a single flower within the tangles of her hair had started to bloom and with the sudden exertion, retreated once more into its bud as a garnet tear threatened once more in the corner of the Dryad's eye while her fingers twisted and toyed with the wooden bracelet which adorned her wrist.
"Last thing is the man beasts carved of same sinew and bone, horned, clawed and fanged, and with them, a vanguard of the Dark Angel, who walk and kill with strength and horror, who ride fire and death. But worst of these is Dark Angel, is not angels of stories Sisters would tell, but dark and horrible thing. The Dark Angel, he who saws me, who taked my sisters and not me, who taked Adèlédané and is he, is he I knows who tries to find me now. He sacrifices Adèlédané and Source Tree to the darkness which grows, grows so much now, more than when I saw Tree last, dark snake arms are consume all. And we must cross all things to get to the place that holds Gaia's Breath and then to enter within the earth to reach Mother Tree, it is a dark and dangerous path. And more, in the last, more kinds showed, kinds like Troll but not, the dark keeps to birthing more and more of types I do not know. "
While she struggled to maintain composure, by the end Nolia had not given in to the disgust and horror that recollection threatened, instead her eyes took on a near feverish sheen as she sought the faces about her, hunted for familiar signs of understanding and non-verbal communication with which she was most comfortable with. Her words were still slightly stilted and lacked Grammatical finesse, though the errors were more akin to one who was not accustomed to the language being used and while she understood it, she had not managed to fully comprehend the nuances between it and her mother tongue.
Reasons: Well, apparently I’m not the first to nominate Inem for a Carrion Crown post this month. But this was a great post in an entirely different way than the other post he was nominated for. This post isn’t about summarizing a year and a half of play. Instead it shows a lot of character development that occurred over that year and a half. Inem’s character, Hrani, has been paranoid since joining the game over two years ago. In this post we start to see some changes to that as he shows a growing trust in one of the other party members. The reasons for this change are based on things that occurred in the posts leading up to this. Seeing a character change so far into a campaign is always a welcome treat.
'That ... that is a brilliant deduction!' Simple words Mara speaks without much thought, out of excitement for the revelation Hrani shared with the others. But what they do inside the magus is about as far from simple as can be. They make him feel something. Something he doesn't think he has ever felt before, and so his logical mind cannot figure out what exactly it is he is experiencing. It is not pride, as one might expect at receiving the compliment. No, Hrani would have felt pride had Pike or Runa given it to him. It isn't a sense of superiority either, which he might have felt had Carlo or Andrzej complimented him such. Nor is it a sense of accomplishment, which he had felt in the past when Lorrimor had been impressed by him. So what then is he feeling? It is definitely something positive, though there is a sense of confusion mixed in with it. He is pleased with the songstress' words. And yet, his earlier skepticism returns, after having been washed away for the period of their walk, where Mara tightly hung onto his arm. Why is it he has suddenly started trusting the woman? Started maybe even wanting to please her? It is not like that with anyone else in the group. He doesn't dislike any of the others, but he wouldn't be surprised to find any of them ramming a knife in between his shoulder blades from behind him. And yet, entirely out of character, he has come to trust Mara. The one person in the group he has watched countless times use that silver tongue of hers to do exactly this to other people. Disarm them, gain their trust, make them want to please her by giving her information. The fact that he trusts her makes him suspicious. Have her words twisted his mind as well? Or is it perhaps even more than words? Was her tongue perhaps not just magical in the metaphorical sense? After all, had Hrani not seen what happened earlier when Carlo attempted to cast a spell on her without permission? Innate magical defenses. Most commonly seen in creatures with other innate magical abilities. Even though the elf is pretty sure Mara is special, he has to admit a disturbing lack of knowledge when it comes to her race in general.
Comfort comes from an unexpected source. "I'd worry less about her and more about the others, and the problems on hand. She's just as alone as you, here among the others..." A vote of confidence in Mara's favor, from the most mistrusting Scimitar in the whole world. Now that, if anything, is disturbing.
Still, the advice to focus on the matters at hand is valid. There is Runa's theory that Master Vorkstag and Margot Vorkstag are the same person. "It is...possible, I suppose. If it is true indeed, confronting Vorkstag at the trial would be a good idea. But not before we have confirmed this theory, and learned more about the capabilities of Skin Stealers." Hrani glances pointedly at Jamir, though he figures to be involved in the research as well. "We'd need something to force his hand or reveal him to the public. And we'd need to know how dangerous he would be to all those present. But first things first. We know Vorkstag is going to be at the trial tomorrow. If someone can figure out where Margot is, and see her, then we can be sure they aren't one and the same. Because I am still open to the idea that Master Vorkstag is not the same person as his sister, and either doesn't know that she has been replaced, or does know but doesn't care, for example because he is a Skin Stealer himself..." Hrani pauses, when a thought occurs to him. "Of course, we should definitely do the easy thing and have someone check his eyes tomorrow. There's no way to be 100% sure, of course, but indications so far are that Skin Stealer Margot can't change those." The magus chooses to forego mentioning that if he were a shapeshifter like that, he would be doing precisely the same thing: Pretend like there was a feature he couldn't change. One that made him easily identifiable to his enemies. And then, when they were counting on that to protect them, impersonate someone they thought was on their side, because they lacked the easy giveaway he had led them to believe his transformations had. No, best not trouble the others with that, it would only worry them. 'And if one of them is already an impersonator...no reason to tell them I'm not really convinced by the green eyes thing.' Of course, that thought doesn't stop Hrani from giving all of his present companions, including the briefly emerging Kendra, a once over to confirm none of them have suddenly acquired green eyes.
The discussion of Morast complete, Hrani listens to Runa as she describes what the group found in Herstag. She doesn't give too many details, but she doesn't really need to. While the elf doesn't have the complete picture, it looks very much like Sullivany is innocent of those crimes, the same way he appears innocent of the Morast crimes. At least he apparently really was in Herstag and people didn't just blame him because it was easy, though his presence there might actually help clear his name, given the timeline the paladin has presented. Two down, one to go, with the Sanctuary contingent due to be back tomorrow. Two to go, in fact, as Kendra emerges to remind them. For there is still the matter of the crime at the university. The one he committed, clearly, though from his reports not of free will. There is magic that can control the mind of others. It wouldn't normally work on constructs, but Hrani wouldn't be surprised if those rules didn't apply here. "I agree, the university crime makes little sense. The question is whether we can still even do anything about it. From my understanding, that part of the trial happened today, I'm not sure more evidence on the matter would be accepted even if we uncovered more. Of course, that doesn't necessarily mean it isn't important for us to learn. For let us not forget that that is the one crime which seems most likely to be linked to the Whispering Way. And it is them we are interested in. This whole thing with the trial has us sidetracking, and from the evidence we have uncovered, it appears we are on the side of the innocent. Hopefully that will be enough to help Sully, but no matter how this ends, our focus has to return to our original goal afterwards..." Hrani still isn't sure how much he really cares about the outcome of the trial. The mystery of whether the Beast is being set up, and if yes how, or whether it is just a victim of people blaming it, is almost more intriguing to him than whether Sully lives or not. If Hrani figures out the puzzle, he'll be happy. Or at least he normally would be. Except, Mara seems to care deeply about how this ends. And that fact alone seems to make him care somewhat. So for her sake, he is willing to try and save the Beast.
Hrani has been digging into the food provided by Samovar, but he too notices how tired Runa is. He also notices her massaging behind her eye patch...a behavior he does not recall having witnessed in the past. And new behaviors from his companions when he is wary of shapechangers make him highly uneasy. More uneasy than his usual self. However, seeing how tired Runa is makes Hrani finally process his own exhaustion. The thought of a bath does seem nice, to wash off the grime of the day's travel...and the stink of the Chymic Works, which most certainly is still clinging to his body and his clothes, despite the brief exposure. But of course, Mara first. He can only imagine how much more she needs it than him. She probably does not enjoy her skin drying out as much as it did with the recent travel, and he hopes the warm water will help sooth the pain left in her lower body from their earlier chase. "I think Mara is right. It is time for all of us to retire. We are all more than exhausted from the day's work. Mara, take as long as you need in the bath. I will avail myself of it once you are done, assuming I have not succumbed to exhaustion by then. But you definitely... For the slightest moment the magus hesitates, deciding on his words, so as to convey his meaning without Samovar understanding it. Mara would likely notice, and perhaps Runa too, but certainly no one who didn't already know there was something to hide. "...deserve it more. I put you through a lot today, chasing down all the...leads I wanted to follow. Please accept this as my sincerest apology for that." Perhaps if he were less exhausted...or more perceptive in general, Hrani might have noticed something was bothering the songstress. But right now, he is too busy with the longing for a bath - though he isn't sure Mara won't want to spend longer in the water than he'll want to wait - and the thought of a good night's meditation to regain his strength.
02-01-2019, 10:13 AM
